Sixers seem to be prioritizing versatile defenders in evaluating NBA draft prospects
There is an incredible premium being placed on switchable defenders, and the Sixers have tailored their workouts in order to suss out which players will be able to do just that while also being able to stretch the floor.
In preparation for the NBA draft, the 76ers’ front office is working under a different set of circumstances than they have in the past.
The team doesn’t have a lottery pick, and is no longer rebuilding in a way that allows for a draft selection to be made based on best available talent. The Sixers are looking for something specific, and their predraft workouts have reflected that.
On Thursday, Marc Eversley, the Sixers senior vice president of player personnel, gave a broad outline of what the predraft workout schedules are like. The players come in, go through stretching and warm up, then meet with the strength and conditioning team where there is some assessment and testing. The players then move on to some sort of agility training and drills. Finally, they take part in some sort of live action followed by individual interviews.
What Eversley left out, but the players taking part in the workouts made very clear, is that the live action portion of the workout is different from what other teams are doing.
“Competitive one-on-one, three-on-three, shooting, a lot of shooting, a lot of contesting shooting too, which in previous workouts was not so much," Croatian prospect Luka Samanic said.
St. John’s junior Shamorie Ponds, who worked out for eight other NBA teams before his meeting with the Sixers on Thursday, echoed what Samanic said.
“[A] lot of the stuff was very live,” he said. “Other workouts you’re not like really contesting shots. This was pretty much very, very different.”
What can be taken from this information is mostly confirmation of what the Sixers’ brass have already said. There is an incredible premium being placed on switchable defenders, and the Sixers have tailored their workouts in order to suss out which players will be able to do just that while also being able to stretch the floor.
Of course, there are multiple teams that would like to have a shooter that can defend at a high level, but because the Sixers have to find the right players later in the draft, they are ramping up the way they evaluate. This includes what is being asked of players in the individual interview.
“That’s why we bring them in," Eversley said. "Not only the component here on the floor but also sitting with them and talking to them in an interview setting. It can definitely make a difference.”
They can look at tape and scrutinize workouts all day long but the face-to-face time with the players allows them to ask some tough questions.
Are you really ready to play at this level? If your role is limited and you bounce back and forth from the G League are you OK with that? What happens if your initial expectations of your career aren’t met? Why you?
In just one week the Sixers will have to trust that everything they’ve asked of players in workouts, everything they’ve seen, and all the tape they have watched.
“We’re narrowing down,” Eversley said. “It’s collecting and gathering as much information as possible so we’re ready next week to make selections.”
Many of the players who come through these workouts, won’t hear their name called on draft night. A large majority of them will be lucky to make a G League roster in hopes of continuing to learn and catch the eyes of NBA teams. For a few, what happened behind the closed doors of the Sixers practice gym could tip the scales in their favor.